Be Sure You're Shaving a (Real) Yak

The computing term yak shaving has two different definitions:1.Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing one to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows one to solve a larger problem.2. A less useful activity done consciously or subconsciously to procrastinate about a larger but more useful task. One thing that frequently falls into this category is adopting a note-taking system, such as Zettelkasten, which I repeatedly have heard about and not adopted.Such systems can fall into either of the above categories, depending on how you're approaching them. I do not deny that the Zettelkasten approach could be useful. I just don't see a need to use it all the time and haven't bumped into a context in which I could find it useful.Indeed, I have employed note-taking systems of different sorts over the years, and do have a general method for tracking my projects, but I have always been of the mind that it need only make the information findable later, in case I need it. Overall, a…